A working professional has triggered debate online after sharing details of their employer's newly introduced work-from-home (WFH) policy, which prevents staff from working from their hometowns and uses GPS-based attendance tracking to monitor their location.
According to the employee, the company recently carried out a major round of layoffs, reducing its workforce from 40 people to just 15. Following the downsizing, the firm also gave up its leased office space on the sixth floor and relocated to a much smaller workspace on the floor below.
Smaller office prompts remote working arrangement
Explaining the change, the employee said the new office cannot accommodate the entire team at once, prompting management to roll out a rotational WFH system.
“Since the fifth floor doesn't have enough space for all of us, the company has decided to introduce work from home. We have been allotted only 4 seats on the fifth floor, so the rest of the team will work from home on a rotational basis,” the Reddit user wrote.
“After a few weeks, employees currently working from home will come to the office, while those in the office will shift to remote work.”
Here's the link to the viral post
GPS attendance limits WFH to Delhi-NCR
While the employee initially welcomed the move, believing it would allow them to work from their hometown, they later discovered that remote working would only be permitted within the Delhi-NCR region.
“I was initially happy, thinking I would finally be able to work from my hometown. However, my boss clarified that we can only work from within Delhi-NCR. To ensure this, the attendance will be marked through GPS, where the system will mark the employee present only if he or she is in Delhi NCR,” the worker said.
The employee added that management did not provide an official explanation for the restriction.
“The boss didn't give a reason but I think if an employee is needed urgently in the office, they should be able to reach quickly. I was really disappointed to hear this. Is this what work from home is supposed to mean?”
Social media divided over company's approach
The post quickly gained attention online, with some users criticising the policy as excessive, while others argued that similar location-based requirements are common across organisations.
“This is called slavery, and sadly it's normalised,” one user wrote.
Another commented: “This is crazy man. I didn't know companies could do this to employees.”
Others suggested the arrangement could be temporary. “I am guessing the reason is that the WFH is temporary. The company might be planning to rent a new office and move to a hybrid mode. If they allow people to relocate from the city, many would vacate their houses, those with kids will go to their hometowns and get admissions in schools there.”
A fourth user noted that such policies are not unusual. “That's how it is even in big MNCs. Also, there are many who give silly reasons like power failure and internet failure and are offline. It is probably to avoid all that.”
Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content shared on social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.